Governor Ron DeSantis has set Florida’s first double execution in more than 60 years for July 28, 2026, scheduling James Aren Duckett for noon and Dominick Anthony Occhicone for 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke. The two executions, six hours apart, will mark the first time Florida has carried out two executions on the same day since May 12, 1964, when Emmett C. Blake and Sie Dawson were executed by electric chair.
Duckett, 68, a former Mascotte police officer, was convicted in 1988 of the 1987 rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee. Occhicone, 80, was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents, Raymond and Martha, in Pasco County. Both men will be executed by lethal injection unless a court grants a stay.
The scheduling of this double execution comes as DeSantis has accelerated Florida’s pace of capital punishment. In 2025, the state carried out 19 executions under DeSantis’s watch, more than double the previous state record of eight executions, set in both 1984 and 2014. This figure made Florida responsible for nearly half of all executions in the United States that year, according to death penalty tracking organizations.
Between 1924 and 1964, Florida carried out same-day executions on 32 separate occasions, but the practice ceased after 1964. The 1964 executions of Blake and Dawson marked the last time the state executed two people on the same day. If both executions proceed on July 28, Occhicone, at 80 years old, would become the oldest person ever executed in Florida’s modern era.
The Florida Supreme Court denied both men’s appeals on July 24, 2026, clearing the way for the executions to proceed. However, both men have filed additional legal challenges, including motions for stays filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Concerns have been raised about Duckett’s case, with some advocates questioning the strength of evidence, and about Occhicone’s conviction, which was secured by a 7-5 jury vote—the slimmest possible margin under Florida law at the time. Catholic bishops in Florida have also urged DeSantis to grant stays for both men.
The July 28 executions would be Florida’s third and fourth executions of 2026, continuing the state’s record-setting pace under DeSantis. The governor has signed death warrants for 10 of the men executed since January 2025, reflecting his administration’s aggressive approach to capital punishment.
Sources
- USA Today — details on the scheduled double execution, the men’s crimes, and Florida’s execution history
- ABC News — confirmation of the execution dates, times, and DeSantis’s record of 19 executions in 2025
- New York Post — confirmation that the last double execution occurred in 1964
- Death Penalty Information Center — details on the two men’s cases, legal challenges, and concerns raised
- Florida Catholic — information on the 1964 double execution and bishops’ calls for stays
- Tallahassee Democrat — historical context on same-day executions between 1924 and 1964
- CNN — latest reporting on the scheduled executions as of July 26, 2026
- News-Journal Online — Florida Supreme Court’s denial of appeals on July 24, 2026
